Weekly PTW, 2nd Edition

As I stated last week, the day before every Boise State Bronco football game I will pick the player that I think will have a huge impact on the game and will put up some good numbers. Last week I went with Shea McClellin and all he did was pounce on a fumble in the end zone fore a touchdown. He did have to leave the game with a concussion, but he was effective when he was in there. Let's see who I went with for the game on Saturday against the Oregon State Beavers:

I found it hard to pick this week’s PTW. There are so many places I could have looked and been happy with whoever I chose. But at the same time, I didn’t want to just go with Kellen Moore and call it a day. We all know that Moore is going to play well because he always does. I thought a lot about it and decided to stay on Moore’s side of the ball and go with running back DJ Harper.


A handsome fellow, if I do say so myself!

I looked through the stats for Oregon State in their first two games of the season and the one thing that stood out to me was their rushing defense. Against TCU, the Beavers gave up 278 yards on the ground. Against Louisville they allowed 165. TCU has a couple of good running backs, but Louisville, not so much. Even with defensive lineman Stephen Paea clogging up the middle, teams have been able to get their run on against Oregon State. I couldn’t pick Doug Martin for the same reason that I couldn’t go with Kellen Moore. Besides, as deep and as talented as Boise State is with that position, they should have no problem keeping fresh legs in the game as the OSU defense gets tired. It seems to me that Martin will wear them down with his punishing style of running, and the Harper will crash through without mercy and outrun everybody to the end zone. It will look something like this:



Harper is from Cypress, Texas and was a standout all star at Cypress Creek High School. Despite being only a two-star recruit, he had scholarship offers from Boise State, Arkansas, Houston, Tulsa, UTEP, Texas Tech, and Colorado State. We are glad he chose the Broncos! He has done nothing but rack up the yardage since playing as a freshman. Unfortunately, an ACL tear last year in the third game of the season against Fresno State sidelined Harper for the rest of the season. The good news is that he got a medical red shirt for that year and will be with us for one season beyond what we thought!

It’s interesting that at the beginning of the season, no one was sure how DJ Harper was going to do. He had just gotten back from his ACL tear to participate in practices a few weeks before the trip to D.C. Sure, the media (The Idaho Statesman) had told us that he was looking good in fall camp, but you can’t be sure until he is seen in live game action. Also, by the time we got the depth chart for the first game, Doug Martin was the starter while Harper and Avery were slated as co-backups. As mentioned, this was possibly due to the questions about how a repairing ACL tear would do in live action. Well how does 4 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown against Virginia Tech sound? When he broke that tackle just past the defensive lineman and sprinted 71 yards into the end zone, I knew immediately that he was fine. The rest of the nation knew as well. He followed that up with 11 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown against Wyoming, and that was only 3 quarters of work as Harper and the rest of the starters sat for the 4th. It seems that the coaches are allowing him to get back into things slowly, increasing his workload more and more each game. He is ripe for a larger number of carries and subsequently some long runs against the Oregon State Beavers. Doug Martin will wear them down with his physicality and then Harper will be long gone down the sideline before they realize what happened. Call it Boise State's version of "Smash and Dash." It should be fun.

I know this is a different OSU team than the one that came into Bronco Stadium in 2006, but I can’t help but picture Ian Johnson gashing the Beavers for huge gains and touchdowns over and over again without dreaming of DJ Harper doing the same thing on Saturday. So keep your eyes on number 6, DJ Harper. He will look a lot like this guy:



But actually he will look like this:



Check back in for the weekend recap on Monday. We should have a lot to discuss! GO BRONCOS!

I Got my Tickets, Did you Get Yours?

As a true Boise State Bronco fan, I try as hard as I can to make sure I have game times free so as to indulge myself in the treat that is BSU football. When it is a huge game and within my financial, geographical, and wife-permitting range, I make freaking sure that I am there to watch in person. Such is the case when the Beavers of Oregon State (hailing from the beautiful city of Corvallis) come to play on the Blue against the Boise State Broncos! After days of fighting, worrying, and chatting with former peers and still current students at that great school, I have obtained two tickets; one for me and one for my wife. We have arranged for my mother to take care of our 3 month old baby in hopes of getting our mugs on ABC (I have appeared 3 times on ESPN, but I've never gone big time with some network channel face time!)! In other words, all is set for me to return to my second home, Bronco Stadium, and scream my face off in support of the Broncos. All is well!

While I am preparing my weekend picks and weekly PTW, I decided it would be appropriate to add some comments and tidbits that will not make the two aforementioned posts. As you know, this is a huge game for Boise State and I need myself and you to be as psyched as possible (it is scientifically proven that getting completely geeked up and jacked for a football game allows for louder, longer cheering). Read on.

Number one; I am really excited for this game, if you cannot tell. As I no longer live in the Boise area (work took us away from that great place), I will not have as many chances as before to get to the games. In this particular case, both teams are ranked and it will be the home opener. You cannot get much better than that.

Number two; Every time the Broncos play the Beavers, it reminds me of a hilarious newspaper headline that Jay Leno used on his "Headlines" segment. The year was 2006, Boise State was early in its quest to get to a BCS Bowl game (They ended up in the Fiesta Bowl, beating Oklahoma. You know the rest). Sophomore running back Ian Johnson had his breakout game, scoring 5 touchdowns. The headline said;

"Broncos' Johnson Runs All Over Beavers"

Whoever edited that newspaper was probably fired the next day. It was awesome! My only wish is that Malcolm Johnson was able to play. He was a huge recruit for Boise State but has struggled academically to the point where he is not enrolled in schools this semester. I want him to play and start, all in hopes of seeing another headline like that one...Oh innuendos! You never get old, no matter how much I do! In case you forgot what Ian did that day, look at this:



Number three; LET'S GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is all.